Image courtesy of DLR Group DLR Group Architects (http://www.dlrgroup.com/home/) have incorporated Bio-PCM ENRG blankets into walls and ceilings of a classroom and its performance will be compared with a similar, non-PCM containing classroom (see http://schoolconstructionnews.com/2018/02/16/thermal-mass-2-0-reinventing-energy-design-user-experience/). The project is based at Canyon View High School in Waddell, Arizona. Both rooms will monitor HVAC energy, overall building energy…

The UK Government’s Environmental Audit Committee will consider risks to health, wellbeing and productivity associated with heatwaves, review the level of UK resilience to them and assess the Government’s actions to date. The Committee will also be examining public health risks associated with higher temperatures as well as heatwaves (see http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news-parliament-2017/heatwaves-launch-17-19/). Globally, 15 of the 16 highest…

Image courtesy of Roland Korner, Filmfabrik, Woessner The new apartment building in Vaduz, Liechtenstein has been designed as an active energy building. Details of the project can be found at http://www.architectour.net/opere/opera.php?id_opera=6869&nome_opera=Marxer%20Haus&architetto=Falkeis%C2%B2architects&language=1 and http://www.puretemp.com/pcmatters/inspired-by-nature-marxer-haus-takes-wing-in-liechtenstein. As well as many other sustainable features, the apartment block utilises movable “wings”. These climate wings contain 1.4 tonnes of Rubitherm PCMs enclosed in aluminium tubes. …

A new version of the US Department of Energy’s building modelling software, EnergyPlus (version 8.8.0) has been announced which includes a new PCM module. This module, developed by NRGsim Inc., uses both the melting and freezing graphs and hence takes account of hysteresis. The input data required can be found in the Input Output Reference…

This is a report by Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA), under contract to the US Department of Defense Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) (see http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD1022577). A hybrid Environmental Control Unit (HECU) technology was demonstrated in which the integrated heat exchangers, filled with Phase Change Material (PCM), were fitted into a facility’s air conditioning system at the…

For those who missed the launch of this German engineering standard at the end of last year it’s certainly worth checking out VDI 2164. This 70 page document is half in German and half in English and covers the use of PCMs in construction applications in great detail. A three page abstract (including the index)…

There is considerable evidence to support the fact that overheating of buildings in the UK is becoming an increasing problem. In a recent survey (October 2015), on behalf of WSP:Parsons Brinckerhoff, 83% of the 1,005 London households surveyed stated that they had experienced at least one period of overheating during that summer. Part of the problem…

On very hot days, the power grids in the USA are under considerable strain to maintain power to all the country’s air conditioners. A new start-up in Chicago, NETenergy, works on the premise “why store electricity to generate cold air when you could store cold instead” (see http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/03/22/chicago-startups-thermal-battery-is-adaptive-solution-to-spikes-in-electricity-demand/). A chemical engineering professor at the University of…

In a recent CIBSE Journal (March 2017), it was stated that a perfect storm of technical, economic, and cultural factors is causing alarming levels of overheating in homes, according to speakers at a recent Edge debate. Professor Kevin Lomas FCIBSE, from Loughborough University, said the rise in overheating has been caused partly by the move towards airtight, insulated…